Sheriff: Brunswick deaths may be related
A little local news from my area. Anyone one to guess why these to where done in.
Sheriff: Brunswick deaths may be related
By Veronica Gonzalez
Staff Writer
BOLIVIA | The same killers are believed to be responsible for the deaths of two men whose decomposed bodies were found in Brunswick County this past weekend, Sheriff Ronald Hewett said Monday.
One of the men – 26-year-old Gilberto Roman Aguayo – was reported missing March 15 by his son’s grandmother, who lives near Myrtle Beach in Conway, S.C. It was two days after Mr. Aguayo, father to a 3-year-old boy named Roman, was seen at an apartment complex in Myrtle Beach. Mr. Aguayo’s body was found Saturday in the Green Swamp about a mile from the Columbus County line.
The identity of the other man – whose body was found in the Waccamaw River later the same day – is unknown, but he is Hispanic and has several tattoos on his arms. No missing-persons report has been filed on anyone matching his description, the sheriff said.
“We’ve got dead people popping up, and we might have more dead people popping up,� Sheriff Hewett said.
He would not say why the two killings were related, but he said he was “85 percent sure� they were connected.
“I’m on the tracks of a cold-blooded killer,� he said.
He’s seeking the public’s help to identify the man. His approximate age is unknown, but he has a red-and-blue ribbon tattoo with the name “Marta� on his right arm and tattoos of a scorpion and spider and a shark on his left arm.
The unidentified man is not James Dawson Smith, a 63-year-old sought by Lake Waccamaw police after failing to appear in court on a charge of indecent liberties with a minor. Police visited the Green Swamp on Saturday to see if either of the bodies was that of Mr. Smith.
Sheriff Hewett would not release how the men died because he said he didn’t want to give away pertinent details only the killers know.
He said, however, that the men were killed about the same time – at least two weeks ago. He did not speculate on why the men were killed but said it wasn’t robbery because Mr. Aguayo’s wallet was on his body.
Mr. Aguayo, who has been missing about a month, lived with Barbara Hearl in Conway. He left his house a month ago to go to Myrtle Beach, she said. That was the last time she saw him.
According to Myrtle Beach police reports, Mr. Aguayo and a friend were involved in a fight at an apartment complex in Myrtle Beach near U.S. 17. The friend told police that a man named Miguel was angry with Mr. Aguayo because he thought he put something in his drink that made him sick.
The friend reported that Miguel tried to force him and Mr. Aguayo into Mr. Aguayo’s blue 1994 Ford Mustang. The friend escaped, but Mr. Aguayo was forced into the car at gunpoint, according to the reports.
On March 17, authorities in central Nebraska stopped Mr. Aguayo’s car off Interstate 80 after someone reported the car was driving erratically.
Sheriff’s deputies arrested the two men inside the car when they learned they were wanted on kidnapping charges, said Hamilton County Sheriff Kirk Handrup. Mr. Aguayo was not in the car.
On March 30, Myrtle Beach police brought the men back to South Carolina, he said.
The men are Juan Gonzales-Galvez and Oscar Gutierrez – both of Myrtle Beach. Both are being held on kidnapping charges, police said.
A logger who noticed vultures circling an area off N.C. 211 discovered Mr. Aguayo on Saturday face up in a canal ditch in 4 1/2 feet of water, Sheriff Hewett said.
A turkey hunter discovered the other man’s body lying face down across a log in the Waccamaw River west of N.C. 130.
The sheriff speculated the unidentified man’s body had been thrown off the bridge between Brunswick and Columbus counties.
Mrs. Hearl said Mr. Aguayo was born in Mexico but had lived in the United States since he was 14. She said he liked to spend time with his son, who was named after him.
“He was a family person,� Mrs. Hearl said. “He loved his family. He was kind and gentle and loving.�
 
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